F1 2026: Chinese GP - Shanghai (Mar 15)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Pierre Waché is a French donkey who stumbles over the same stone twice.

The 2026 RB22 s@cks again (!)

I was waiting for that Wache double Van Damme kick

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

F1 in 2026 ..

True driver skills are replaced by a heavy pig battery (!)

Another ten tonne reason why Ben should go.

[tracksidemanner]

Originally Posted by afadeev

Yep, especially during qualifying.
Whatever compression tricks Mercedes has are all deployed in full during quali, with 0.7-0.8 second gaps to the next fastest team in China (McLaren) and Australia (RedBull & Ferrari).



Ferrari and McLaren are now "next best" teams.
It will be interesting to see if Ferrari super-start magic still holds in China, in which case, they may yet spoil Mercedes parade!



RB qualification pace drop has been the shocker in China.
RB was 2nd best and 0.8 seconds off Mercedes pace in Australia, and are now 4th best and 1.8 seconds off Mercedes in China.

Somehow, RB got out-qualified by Alpine and Haas!
And it's not just one driver (VER) that is off pace, both of them are!



I suspect this is a one-off situation in China. No way have they lost full +1.0 second of pace to Mercedes in one week.
They must have royally screwed the setup or engine maps for China.



I don't see AM/Honda sorting the engine out this year. At all.
This entire year is a write-off for AMR and Caddirarri.
Williams, on the other hand, must still rise through the mid-field ranks.



True driver skill shines through equipment complexity.
Better drivers always rise to the top, especially during times of regulation changes!

a

By your last sentence, 'better drivers always rise' it would seem Hamilton (who shit the bed hard for 4 years), Lec, Rus, and both Mclaren drivers for about 75% of the reg cycle (all in top cars mind you) didnt rise up at all in what were some of the hardest cars to drive in F1 history and required a lot of adaptation.
These new cars don't let drivers shine at all IMO. It's an engineers race - who can harvest and deploy the energy best. In other words, which software is best suited for the track.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

The pain must be excruciating...oh well better luck next year LEW.

[Artemis]

Rounds #4 and #5 are canceled. Confirmation later.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

The RB does not look good at all and it certainly is not the engine.. I believe it is only a matter of time before Max opts to leave RB and one lucky suiter

I take Max at his word, If he leaves, it will be to go where batteries are for starting the cars and politics involves ballots and racers can race the track and each other.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

The RB does not look good at all and it certainly is not the engine.. I believe it is only a matter of time before Max opts to leave RB and one lucky suiter (MB most likely due to relationship with Toto and ability to do more enduro racing too) gets to retain his services.

After one race it's not exactly a promising start but Wache and Milton Keynes are on the case

[Car-Addicted]

That's how this part sounded in my head.

[Car-Addicted]

What's wrong with these pictures?

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Rounds #4 and #5 are canceled. Confirmation later.

Just let them race at Imola .

That's 10 times better than race on those dusty desert tracks.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Just let them race at Imola .

That's 10 times better than race on those dusty desert tracks.

It doesn't really matter!!! It's all fake racing until they get these garbage cars sorted.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

It doesn't really matter!!! It's all fake racing until they get these garbage cars sorted.

Yeah I know . And that has cost $Billions to destroy true driver skills .

It's sad . Very sad (!)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Just let them race at Imola .

That's 10 times better than race on those dusty desert tracks.

I've been to that track and its the perfect choice to have two extra F1 races especially with that name Autodromo Enzo et Dino Ferrari

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

By your last sentence, 'better drivers always rise' it would seem Hamilton (who shit the bed hard for 4 years), Lec, Rus, and both Mclaren drivers for about 75% of the reg cycle (all in top cars mind you) didnt rise up at all in what were some of the hardest cars to drive in F1 history and required a lot of adaptation.

Not entirely sure I follow you here. Are we talking this year cars, or last year's, or what?

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

These new cars don't let drivers shine at all IMO.

On the contrary - regardless of what you feel about hybrids (I don't care for them in road cars), they've added another dimension to the challenge that is F1 racing.

Better drivers have mastered that added dimension sooner than the drivers with less spare intellectual capacity.
Sorry, if your favorite driver got exposed and has fallen into the middle of the pack...

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

It's an engineers race - who can harvest and deploy the energy best. In other words, which software is best suited for the track.

And which driver manages to harvest and deploy that +50% HP at what points on the track.
The software is not only in the cars, but in drivers' heads as well!

a

[M3WC]

Matter of time before McLaren jump Ferrari. Once they figure out their chassis, they will take advantage of Merc power.

McLaren had less wind tunnel time going into the season, now their track time will help develop the car quicker.

[Car-Addicted]

Man, I do miss having this guy in the paddock

Look! I have found the right outfit, entirely in the style of F1 2026! 👌🏼Fucking perfect, isn’t it?

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

I believe it is only a matter of time before Max opts to leave RB and one lucky suiter (MB most likely due to relationship with Toto and ability to do more enduro racing too) gets to retain his services.

I don't share your optimism. Let me explain:
I think Max will leave F1 once his contract with RB has ended.
He always said that he won't be in F1 forever, he has won and earned enough, he doesn't like these style of cars, he thinks the schedule with all the sprint races is too busy and not focussed enough, and although he likes to win, he doesn't care how much WDC's he has and he's very much involved with both simracing and his GT3 team and GT3 racing, and that keeps growing.
1+1+1+1+1+1 is definately more than 2.

So I expect that we'll see Max this year and the next year and then he's gone (I think there's some kind of opt out 1 year before his contract ends in 2028, otherwise we get to see him another year).
Of course maybe there's a loophole so that he can leave after this year to another team (if he ends 5th or so), but even then it'll probably be for just 1 year....

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

Man, I do miss having this guy in the paddock

That is hilarious!

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I don't share your optimism. Let me explain:
I think Max will leave F1 once his contract with RB has ended.
He always said that he won't be in F1 forever, he has won and earned enough, he doesn't like these style of cars, he thinks the schedule with all the sprint races is too busy and not focussed enough, and although he likes to win, he doesn't care how much WDC's he has and he's very much involved with both simracing and his GT3 team and GT3 racing, and that keeps growing.
1+1+1+1+1+1 is definately more than 2.

So I expect that we'll see Max this year and the next year and then he's gone (I think there's some kind of opt out 1 year before his contract ends in 2028, otherwise we get to see him another year).
Of course maybe there's a loophole so that he can leave after this year to another team (if he ends 5th or so), but even then it'll probably be for just 1 year....

I’d hate to see Max go but wouldn’t blame him one bit. He’s made generational wealth so back to driving cars with an engine makes sense.

[3798j]

"Where Mercedes’ “big advantage” over F1 2026 field is coming from."

“What I'm really pleased with is how the car drives. You see the onboard, the car's on rails, and most of the lap time gain that we have is in the corners." - - - Toto Wolff

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/109123...nese-gp-coming

[Killed by Death]

When new Halo winglets are more interesting than the car

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

After one race it's not exactly a promising start but Wache and Milton Keynes are on the case